At the end of this ultimately eventful Capital One Cup quarter-final, Sam Allardyce shook hands with the host, Tim Sherwood, and strolled off with all the delighted air of a gate-crasher who had found the cigars and champagne on his way out of the party.

White Hart Lane’s welcome bash for Sherwood had been going so well. His attacking, wing-borne 4-4-2 tactics were well-received by the fans. His talks before kick-off and at half-time clearly struck a chord with players, who started both halves strongly.

Tottenham Hotspur deservedly took the lead after 67 minutes through the excellent Emmanuel Adebayor, whose restoration to the starting line-up after being cold-shouldered by Andre Villas-Boas proved a masterstroke by Sherwood.

His withdrawal with 12 minutes remaining proved costly.

Adebayor was tiring slightly, inevitably so after having only played 45 minutes previously for Spurs this season, but he could have eked out a few more minutes, taking the team closer to the safety of the final whistle.

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West Ham were worried by Adebayor but grew in confidence as the tall Togolese striker disappeared towards the home bench, spending a while shaking hands with everyone.

Allardyce is so experienced that he was simply tweaking his team, sending on substitutes who turned the game famously in West Ham’s favour. Modibo Maiga had already come on for Carlton Cole, and Mohamed Diamé for Joe Cole before Allardyce played his final ace, Ravel Morrison for Alou Diarra.

West Ham, who were passionately backed by their fans throughout the match, were now moving with greater adventure, targeting the soft centre of Tottenham’s defence.

Sherwood, who still does not know whether he will be in charge gainst Southampton on Sunday, could not respond to the changes of the canny Allardyce. Sherwood’s players, and particularly his defenders, did not respond to attacks culminating in the equaliser for Matt Jarvis with 10 minutes remaining and winner from Maiga with five minutes left.

Maiga’s goal was created by Allardyce’s substitutes, Morrison and Diamé combining, another feather in the manager’s cap. This was Maiga’s first goal in 12 months and 17 days. “Maiga, he scored at White Hart Lane; he’s better than Jermain”, chorused the visiting fans in a dig at their former forward Jermain Defoe.

They also sang “you’re getting sacked in the morning’’ to Sherwood. The way Spurs let this slide will hardly have enhanced Sherwood’s case for a longer spell in charge.

Everyone at the Lane wants him to do well, and he possesses the strength of personality to make the managerial grade one day, but the fact remains that the young contender was outwitted late on by a 59-year-old who has been managing for 22 years. Allardyce’s dubious reward for his successful decision-making is a Capital One Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

Sherwood spoke afterwards of his instructions to his players to “go more gung-ho”, a phrase last heard in English football when Ray Harford took charge of Blackburn Rovers in 1995 and began the Premier League champions’ foray into Europe with the battle cry of going “gung-ho”, taking the best sides in the Continent on with all-out attack. Sherwood was in that side and, echoing ’95-96, his team were punished for being far too open at times. In fairness to Sherwood, his defence let him down late on.

There were almost echoes of Kenny Dalglish’s title-winning side of 1994-95 which had Sherwood at the heart of it. The wide roles of Stuart Ripley and Jason Wilcox were taken here by Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend. Sherwood fielded Adebayor up alongside Defoe in a 4-4-2 system, Adebayor dropping off as Chris Sutton did occasionally behind Alan Shearer for Rovers.

Sherwood had been waiting for this moment, this chance to show he could inspire and organise a group of underperforming players into a cohesive unit. He frequently stood in the technical area, chewing gum, shouting instructions and encouragement, particularly to Adebayor who responded at one point with a thumbs-up.

Adebayor seemed on a mission, determined to make a point to the dismissed Villas-Boas, whose presence has almost been airbrushed from club history with only three brief mentions in the programme: Michael Dawson “wishing him well”, a picture at a Christmas hospital visit and a listing as “head coach” on the back-cover which had clearly gone to the printers before the Portuguese had gone from the building.

Spurs fans responded positively to the new era, enjoying the bright start. Defoe and Townsend went close. Adebayor headed across goal.

Even Hugo Lloris got in on the variety act, calmly sliding a lovely ball behind Jarvis. Lloris’s only real save of note in the first half was from Carlton Cole’s low strike, skidding across a surface left sodden by the interminable rain. At least there was no hail, only pace. Lennon and Townsend continued to run at West Ham but to no avail as the half petered out.

West Ham almost took a shock lead when, following attention for the winded George McCartney, James Collins drilled the ball back to Spurs far too strongly, requiring the back-pedalling Lloris to make a clawing save. Spurs then scored. Townsend began the move, releasing Defoe, whose left-footed cross was met with a magnificent volley by Adebayor.

West Ham responded, helped by Allardyce’s changes. Diamé and then Matt Taylor drew good saves from the excellent Lloris. Spurs then suffered a blow when Townsend pulled his left hamstring.

West Ham’s equaliser arrived after Maiga flicked on Adrian’s long ball. Étienne Capoue and Kyle Walker were both caught out as Taylor redirected the move left to Jarvis, whose finish flew past Lloris. Morrison then played a good pass to Diamé, whose cross was headed in by Maiga. Again Capoue and Walker failed to react sufficiently. Shortly after, Allardyce was moving with a spreading smile towards the tunnel.